Steph

Corks were introduced for sale in the 1930 season. The Akro Spinner cup patent was filed in August 1928.

In the first box I pulled out, I have 17 going one direction, 14 going the other. Not sure which is considered left or right, but both are coming in strong.

Now we all need to get out our Akros and count. I have a firm memory from back before 2010 of being told that members of one of the big marble clubs did the count of their right and left corks and the numbers came out roughly even. *heads up to the attic to find some corks to count*

That sounds right.

I once posted the question about the ratios between right and left. I was told of some group effort by many collectors to count how many they had of each and then combine the results for a large sample. I'm not seeing the link right now but I will keep looking. I am pretty sure the result came in at about 50-50.

More views needed on the front right. I think it might be a cat eye. The other three appear to be West Virginia Swirls. The large size on the front left would make that an Alley.

For big ones, we just know that there are limited choices. If you have a slag that comes in at over one inch, I believe we're looking at MFC, for example. Akro made one-inch marbles, but not in all their styles. Show me a one-inch Akro Popeye or Akro Sparkler and I will keel over. If you have a swirl of that size and it's vintage, you're almost certainly talking Alley. If modern then we look to Jabo or Vacor. The facts aren't that fresh in my mind for Masters. I was very interested in the discussion around the year 2008 and I learned a lot about it, but much of what I have learned has gone from detailed knowledge into general impression mode, if that makes sense. And my general impression was that I would have been surprised to see a Master in those colors and textures at such a large size. And then of course I do recognize the color combo and the Master-like structure as being in the general range of my favorite Vacor, the Sunset.

Okay, it may not yet be settled that the Paul Bunyans are Master ... but yes, there are definitely large Masters.

I wouldn't say unicorn. Just lower odds. I mean, you have the Paul Bunyans. You have the later Sparkler style ones which sometimes were jobbered by Alox. I'm pretty sure I've seen a large one in a 1930's mesh bag. There are definitely large Masters. Not unicorn.

I think with Sunsets it's one of those things which vary over the years or vary from batch to batch. Some look more cheap and obviously foreign than others.

Interesting marble but ???

Here's an old garish pic of my Sunsets. Probably with flash, because I almost always used flash. I need to (a) find my Sunsets (b) get better photos.

At that size, I suspect Vacor.

Whether or not they're actually from Germany, I seem to recall these getting the name German Striped Transparent.

I think you have a moss agate. Moss agate - Wikipedia

lovely

I reread that a couple of times, and I see I'm still making you guess a little. Take "contract run" as 2008 or later. In late 2007 there was some experimentation going on. And then in 2008 the investor-funded runs started. If I remember correctly. Josh or some other Jabo-phile might need to correct my dates or add nuance.

(Jabo was founded in 1987. Their bread and butter all this time was industrial marbles -- like the marbles in paint cans. Dave joined Jabo in 1991. He had worked at Champion before that. The play marbles were not Jabo's main product line.)

Jabo started making play marbles in 1991. They closed their doors a few times up to 2007, not knowing if they would open again but they kept getting new lives. In 2007, they took a new turn. They didn't make generic play marbles anymore. They made some really fancy marbles. Investors started providing funds and sometimes special glass and sometimes creative input, and some very pretty limited run marbles started being made. Dave McCullough was still at Jabo at that time, and he was the main man who helped with those runs. Then he left Jabo. Jabo continued making contract runs. And Dave and others continued their own contract runs. There were many groups who were repeat investors. I am an honorary investor in a couple of the Tribute to Friendship runs. Dave's current operation is Dave's Appalachian Swirls. Also known as D.A.S. You'll see aventurine and oxblood and lutz, and frit on the surface, and way more than the usual number of colors from what is found in vintage marbles and early Jabos.

And now it's over $2 per marble. I wouldn't push it past that on something I wasn't sure about. Maybe someone else sees some special rare ones ... and they might not like us drawing attention to the auction. If you don't get the lot, there are some Jabo specialists around these parts who could help you assemble a very nice assortment.

There are some pretty ones. Some snazzy ones. Some big ones. If you want Jabos, and you're not trying to get vintage marbles, then I could see going up to $2 a marble on that variety.

You know they're not "vintage", right? Jabos can be beautiful, and they aren't being made anymore. But over a dollar apiece so far is getting up there, especially for marbles not identified by run. I actually have some Jabos that I'm hoping will get more than a dollar apiece when I get back to selling. But you have hit dicey range. But if you were trying to assemble a lot that looked like that, you would probably have to pay more than that. So if it's Jabo contract run marbles that you want and you don't mind not knowing which is from which contract run, I could see going up to $100.

I have good neighbors. Three neighbors who are in my friend circle. And one neighbor who is neutral. Only the neutral neighbor and one of the friends have decorations and treats for the kids. I was trying to. But it's just not happening this year. So I'm part of the problem! Well, the Halloweeny friends just bought the house on the other side of them and their mother moved into that, so maybe there will be one more trick-or-treaty house in the neighborhood. I'll think harder about doing it next year. One problem we have is that we don't quite have a front door. Our door that's closest to the front is pointing sideways and kids don't see the porchlight easily. We need to get a standing lamp to put outside that door just for Halloween.

The new pictures are making #1 look more clearly Vitro. It might be a Tiger Eye. So, on #2, no cork? Multiple colors are concentrated in one general area? Might have been more of a ribbon but it maybe it got swallowed up and folded into the seams. That base glass makes me think of Peltier and Alley as much as Akro.